OUR 2025 FESTIVAL: HOW YOU CAN BEST HELP As a Province, one of our most important tasks is to support our 2025 Festival, in which we have been challenged to raise the whopping sum of £3.5 million. The money goes directly to our national and international charity, the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF), and is then distributed to all manner of worthy causes including
Charities and our own brethren and their families. In the first two years of our Festival, Lodges and Chapters and the Provincial Team had been using their skills, initiative and drive to run all kinds of Events. Unfortunately, our work has been seriously affected by the Pandemic, and we have been falling behind our projected target. So – what is to be done? How can you best help? There are lots of exciting Events in the pipeline, which will doubtless be well supported. But there is one way in which nearly all of us can help – and that is by making a regular financial contribution. By setting up a Direct Debit, you can ensure that your money will go straight into the MCF’s account and be redistributed immediately. We call it “the revolving door principle”. No waiting until 2025: your contributions are used immediately to help those in need. And if you qualify for tax relief, the sums you contribute are increased in value by 25%. We appreciate every donation, no matter how big or small. If you donate a total of £300 including Gift Aid or more over the period of the Festival, you qualify for a Festival Jewel. Please check with your Lodge or Chapter Charity Steward for further details. By making a regular donation to our Festival, you will be expressing the “true characteristic of every Freemason’s heart” – those vital words from your Initiation. 49
